The present invention relates to an illuminated signaling glazing unit for a vehicle, preferably for an automobile vehicle, comprising a system for illuminating via the edge face of the glazing unit and means for rendering opaque preventing the emission of the light toward the inside of the vehicle.
In the field of automobile vehicles, doubling up certain signaling lights such as the rear lights, direction indicator lights, stop lights or reversing lights, with light sources that are synchronized with these signaling lights and have the same color as the latter is a known technique. These light sources may be placed on the vehicle body, on the wing mirror (indicator light flasher) or else inside the passenger compartment, generally near the rear window, as described for example in the application EP 1 234 752. In the glazing unit described in this document, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are placed in a unit situated around the periphery of the glazing unit on the inside face of the latter. These LEDs are therefore facing a main face of the glazing unit and are visible through an clear opening left in the surrounding enamel.
Such a doubling up of the signaling lights involves one or more additional components to be managed in the production line and, as a result, increases the costs of production. Furthermore, these additional, “displaced”, signaling lights are not always totally satisfactory from an aesthetic point of view. The present invention is based on the idea of integrating the additional signaling function directly into one or more glazing units of the vehicle, for example into the rear window or the front or rear fixed side windows of the vehicle.
Such an integration of additional light sources, which could be flashing, into the windows of a car poses however serious problems of road safety. This is because no red light must be emitted toward the front of the vehicle, nor any white light, with the exception of the reversing lights, toward the rear of the vehicle.
Furthermore, the light emitted by the direction indicator lights (indicators and indicator flashers) must only be visible from the side where the direction indicator light in question is situated. If light were emitted by windows toward the inside of the vehicle, there is a risk that it could, by transparency, also be visible on the outside of the latter. The flashing of the left indicator light flasher, for example, could then be interpreted, in certain situations, by the driver of another vehicle, as coming from the right side, and vice versa.
It will also be understood that the visibility, by the driver, of the direction indicator lights of his own car could be very distracting in certain situations, notably while driving at night or when this light is reflected on glazing units or other reflecting surfaces inside of the vehicle.
In order to be certified, such illuminated signaling glazing units must therefore comprise masking elements preventing the light from penetrating into the interior of the passenger compartment, preferably without reducing excessively or undesirably the glass clarity.